Chapter 38 24: Found But Broken

"Get up." He ordered through gritted teeth and Fareeda had to stumble before she stood on her feet. Her whole body shook with fear while her tears kept rolling down as though a fountain on her cheeks. He scrunched his face up when he held her wrist and began to drag her out of the place, no one spoke or asked him where he was taking her or asked her if she truly knew him, they just watched. "Hey, wait please!" One lady called from behind them and Mujaheed turned, thinking it was the wife Adam was claiming about. She came to where he stood and that was when he noticed the veil she was carrying. "It s her veil, I'll help put it on her, please." She spoke gently with so much care about Fareeda. He didn t move, which to her was an affirmation and to Mujaheed, that was when he noticed her hair had been out and he felt her hatred filling his heart even more. She wrapped the veil around Fareeda s head and smiled, not knowing that she couldn t see her. "I won t say it s going to be easy, it s tough and it will be so painful that you d prefer your death. But sister, be strong through this. And don t believe any of the words that shameful guy said, you re so beautiful, you re worthy and I don t know you, but I love you already. Stay strong, you ll be in my prayers." She softly hugged her and Mujaheed pulled Fareeda out of the place without waiting for anything. He kept dragging her until he reached the guest house and all she did was cried, without a sound, simply her tears as she didn t even know where she was being taken to. The guards were asking him if she was the one, but he didn t have the time to answer them, he went directly up to his room and roughly on the bed. "What the hell was that?! Fareeda what the hell do you think you ve done?! Have you gone mad!" The echo of his voice shook the four walls of the room and she flinched while she hugged her body, crying so badly that her whimpers could be heard from outside. Even though he knew she couldn t answer him, he wanted an answer from her. Not because he would believe her, but because seeing her crying like this make him want to shut her up with a strong punch on her neck and that way, she wouldn t live to cry anymore. "Will you stop crying already and speak the freak up?!" "Ahh!" She shrilled and clutched her eyes shut yet again. She didn t even know where the sound was coming from and it was getting to the deepest corners of her brain and her shattered heart couldn't take anything anymore. "Please...please..." that was the only thing her trembling lips could say and he watched her with anger, annoyance and disgust. His eyes briskly wandered to her feet and that was when he noticed she was bleeding. And he didn't even notice she didn t have her shoes on until now. She had a glass I her feet and he wondered how much it would have hurt, but seeing the way she acted it was evident that she didn't even notice about the pain her feet were going through. He hissed loudly, banged his feet on the bedside drawer and she flinched harder this time, her tears intensifying before he went out to make a call. "Hello, I've seen her and she s here with me now. Do you have a first aid box here please? She has a cut on her feet." He said, roughly rummaging his hands through his disheveled hair and wanted nothing but to go back into that room and knock her off her breath and stop her from crying out loud like she did. "Thank god, I'll call Alhaji Kamal and inform him now. For the first aid, when you enter the kitchen..." He told him where to get the first aid and Mujaheed didn t wait for anything. He ended the call and took the first aid box with him back into the room. He hated himself for not being able to let her live through the night with the glass in her feet. He placed the box on the bed and she softly moved away from where she heard the sound, "Now, listen to me. I don't want to be repeating myself to you or you acting dumb which I clearly know you aren t. Get your head straight and if you don't want me to break each and every bone that s holding your joints right now, don t you dare let another tear out of your eyes. You have a glass on your feet, I'll take it out." He spoke through gritted teeth and Fareeda slightly shivered when she heard the way his voice sounded. He held her feet onto his palms and she rested her head on her brought up knees, clutching her eyes painfully as she nibbled on her lower lip to stop herself from screaming. He was keenly watching the way she was scrunching up her face painfully and wished he could pulled the glass more painfully than he was, but this wasn t the kind of pain he wanted her to fell, he wanted her to feel hurt in her heart just like she made him feel. He wrapped her feet with the bandage after he was done and she immediately pulled her leg to herself, and he watched as she softly fondled her legs and silently cried. He knew she wasn t crying because of the pain she was feeling in her feet, she was crying because of the emotional pain trying so hard to rupture her world into two. He opened his luggage and brought out her glass before he glared at her even though he knew she couldn't see it. He was more angry at himself now than he was angry at her. Because he didn't know why he brought her last pair of glasses and when he brought it with him, he had in mind that wherever Fareeda was, she might ve already broken her glass and now she might live managing a broken glass or not seeing at all. He hated that he thought of her wellbeing. He moved to the bed and stretch the glass for her, "Take your glass here and go and take your bathe." He watched, as her hands shakily roamed around all the direction he wasn t and when he got fed up, he roughly pulled her closer and put it on her. She had her eyes clenched at first before she slowly adjusted to the light in the room and with a single glance at him, Fareeda s whole body trembled and she hugged her knees to her chest. She didn't wish she look at his face ever again. The anger she had seen, the pain and thirst to kill her was palpable enough. "Get down from the bed, go and bathe, perform ablution because I know it s hardly if you ve prayed." It wasn t a question, he was merely but stating a fact. And at this moment, Fareeda knew better than to act stubborn or try to defy his order. She slowly got down from the bed and looked around the room until she spotted the bathroom door. She wanted to ask him about the clothes she was going to wear, but she was so frightened to even speak at anyone, not to talk of him. She limped to the bathroom and Mujaheed took the car keys and drove out of the house. He went to the nearby boutique and bought all he thought she might need for tonight and tomorrow morning, at least before they left there. He came to the room after he went to the hotel and collected all her belongings but kept them in the trunk of the car and walked into the house with the clothes he bought and walked directly to the room. He found her slumped on the edge of the bed as she cried her eyes out, clutching her chest so tight that he could imagine what she was feeling in her heart. She didn t know he was there until he cleared his voice and she was so quick at clearing her tears and she sat on the edge of the bed, fidgeting with her fingers, avoiding to look at him at all cost. He dropped the nylon on the bed beside her and refused to look at her petite figure in a towel. "Change into something and after you pray, come out to take your dinner." She could only nod her head as she watched him left the room. She sighed and cleared more tears that rolled down her cheeks and did as he ordered. In the nylon, Fareeda saw a flowing cotton and comfortable nightgown with her inner wears and also an Abaya which she guessed he meant for her to wear tomorrow. She did as he said, prayed but dreaded to go out of the room to meet him. But she knew with each minute she stayed in the room, she was only making him even more furious. Finally, she walked out of the room and she met him seated on a sofa as he nibbled on his plate. He wasn't eating and from his expression she knew he was ruminative. She sat at the far end of the room and felt her heart twitched at the remembrance of Adam s words. She knew he had scarred her forever, and nothing could mend her back to what she used to be. He lifted his eyes that were still a shed of blood and she quickly took her gaze off him, "You should eat your food." He glared at the plate in front of her as if it was the one that did what she did to him. She nodded her head and took the plate with shaky hands. She knew she didn t have the appetite to eat, not in weeks or even months to come, but for today and weeks or even months to come, she knew she would have to be submissive to Mujaheed. Maybe for the rest of your lives. That s if he chose to stay with you as a wife, a voice reminded her an she absentmindedly cleared a strand of tear away. It was already late, so after she was done, Mujaheed asked her to go back to the room and sleep. She did and watched him took one of the pillows and a duvet with him to the living room. She curled into a fetus position on the bed and cried, she didn't know why she was pained all over. There was no space left for peace or even consolation in her heart. She wanted to cry so terribly until she shook all the four walls of this room but she knew that could call for his attention and the unwanted might have happen. She knew Adam met her broken, not by anyone but her father. But when he wanted to break her, he scarred her to the point that Fareeda knew even if she wanted to heal and move on with her life, she couldn t. And like he said, he had ruined everything for her. And she knew nothing could go back to how it used to be.